Over a million homeless children in the U.S. (and countless who have not been included in homeless counts) continue to experience “hard-knock” lives. They don’t need a billionaire, like Oliver Warbucks to save them. They need us to collectively unmask hidden issues and create tangible solutions that prevent and end their homelessness. It is not “their” problem to fix. It is all of ours.

A third of our nation’s children reside in homes defined as poor, where the household income is below 60% of the national median income for 2008, or $31,000. In other countries, this annual income is a fortune, but in this country, a family that survives on $31,000 per year places their children on a pathway to adult poverty, if not homelessness.

Unfortunately, 1.1 million American school children call homeless shelters, vehicles on the streets, and even the streets, home. They certainly won’t be bringing apples to their teachers. The barriers that homelessness imposes upon school kids are significant.

Vulnerable. It’s a word we often use to describe the clients our programs target—individuals who have serious health, mental health, and substance abuse challenges; who are frequent utilizers of hospitals and emergency rooms; and who are at high risk of dying on the streets. Veterans, seniors, families, and youth also often fall into that category. But, when we’re talking about more than 650,000 homeless people in our country, what does “vulnerable” really mean?

You, our next generation of American adults, should have the right to a safe home, where you are surrounded by people who love you. But instead, 1.7 million of you are escaping your family homes in search of a place where you are free to live the you are supposed to live. Sure, most of you eventually return home, perhaps because your search leads you to a dead end. But thousands of you leave your family homes permanently. Thousands of you, who are still transitioning into adulthood, are experiencing an animal-like life on the streets. Even at age 15, or younger.